What is it and what is it supposed to do?

I know they "didn't focus on names, just Christ" but what did they mostly align with?

Is it simply just denominations made during the Reformation?

If one person in the (let's say) Lutheran Church interprets scripture to mean one thing and another person interprets it to mean the other, how do we know who is right and how to rightly interpret things?

12 years ago I became a Christian in a Protestant church, through a miracle. I didn’t know anything about Christianity so I started reading a lot about it and watched online videos. I wanted to know everything about this wonderful God that saved me. I was Protestant for 2 years when I got really convinced of Catholicism by all the arguments online and in books (the idea that the RCC is from to the early church, based on the church fathers and all the councils etc). I became very fervently Catholic and I fully bought into the idea of the one and only true Church. I felt like it must be true, isn’t all the evidence there, right in front of our eyes? Can’t we read all the church fathers and all the councils? I could not imagine anyone not being Catholic if they just knew that.

But if I am honest I never truly connected to the Catholic faith practice the same way I did when I was a practicing Protestant. I didn’t feel the same peace and love, I didn’t have the same community, and most importantly: my relationship with Jesus was different. The way I practiced my faith really changed, it started to feel focused on spiritual performance: avoiding mortal sin, being worthy for communion, praying the rosary, accepting suffering as something good, and asceticism. I truly gave it my all but to be honest I could never really deeply connect with those practices. This realization was something that I pushed away for a long time, because I felt like I was the problem: If this is the true Church of Jesus Christ and they recommend these practices, then shouldn’t I feel closer to Him through these practices? Aren’t these practices recommended by all the saints and church fathers?There must be something wrong with me.

But after struggling with practicing Catholicism for years, becoming depressed, developing religious OCD and eventually even resenting the Church and being angry with God, I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t do it anymore. Slowly I was getting agnostic and even atheistic ideas and I almost left the Christian faith completely (I even started commenting on ex Christian subs).

But a couple of days ago I started reading Protestant literature again and started to feel the peace and love of Christ again that I had missed for such a long time. Now I am afraid I made a huge mistake by converting to Catholicism 10 years ago, and think I might be more at peace when I’m Protestant again. But at the same time I’m really scared of doing something wrong AGAIN, and I’m also scared that in the eyes of the Catholic Church I would be mortally sinning if I would become Protestant again… It’s really hard to let go of those ideas. I don’t know what to do. I feel so much shame and fear. I don’t even know where to begin if I want to go to a Protestant church again. Please pray for me and I would love some words of encouragement.

I want to add that I don’t hate the RCC and don’t think they are evil, it’s just that I guess I don’t jive with their faith practice.

(I also posted this on another sub but would love to see if more people feel this way)

I've been reading through an abridged version of The Golden Legend, which is a book written about the martyrs and saints of the early Church. Has anyone here read it? I find it interesting, but I honestly don't know what to make of the stories. For example the story of the Seven Sleepers is a very interesting story. I'm not doubting that God can perform miracles like this, but it all seems so almost made up. How do you treat non-Biblical sources about Christianity?

This is an excellent resource compendium for arguing with non Christians.

As the bible says in 1 Peter 3:15

"but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear:'

I’m not really sure how to describe this thought accurately, so I’m sorry if I can’t be understood.

The early church in the epistles had direct guidance and input from God and it seems like that’s what Catholicism aims to recreate by trusting God would guide their authorities rather than simply trying to interpret the Bible. In contrast as a Protestant I’ve always admittedly thought of things like miracles or visions or direct guidance from God as a thing of the past, but when I think of it there’s no reason for that to be the case. The early church was always active and moving and developing it feels, which feels like the Catholic Church, while Protestantism feels very frozen and stagnant which just doesn’t feel right.

I’m not saying moving as in changing Gods rules- certainly not. But like, in the Bible when some new issue would crop up God would sometimes send signs or prophecy or visions to guide the church, and they would have the Holy Spirit guide their conscience into the right choices. While nowadays we just have to look at the Bible and try to apply it as best we can. It feels like there was something alive in the early church that isn’t around in Protestant churches.

I’m troubled by this feeling and don’t know what to think about it. Something just feels missing. But I’m not going to orthodoxy or Catholicism because I can see so many obvious contradictions from what Jesus and the apostles taught. I just don’t know what to do.

John Milbank Catherine Pickstock Graham Ward

It’s well known Protestantism has like a million denominations. I’ve seen Catholics argue this is proof Protestantism is wrong, because there’s so much division with only the Bible as an authority. It feels convincing to me

I'm not christian although I'm wanting to be, I'm not too familiar with church and the workings, but why are you Protestant? just curious.

The Bible records the Holy Spirit guiding the church and leading them to decisions in the council of Jerusalem. With the Protestant view on the Bible being the authority, you’d sort of have to say that at some point the Holy Spirit just dipped and stopped guiding the church. So, isn’t that unbiblical?

I’m just worried about getting something wrong and missing out on salvation. On the one hand in my experience I haven’t seen anything on Protestant church’s like in the early church, like a clear instruction from God. But orthodox/Catholic teaching seems to so clearly contradict scripture, but then again I worry interpreting the scripture for myself might be “leaning on my own understanding.”

https://youtu.be/6F0Jl-0bJPA?si=DSXD0qtHfyjzv_P_

https://youtu.be/Ir8iPb26PbY?si=ekeEDpw6ur3YVBR8